Pink flag

Rather than being strictly jittery punk like the name would imply, [Pink Flag's] got a powerpop mainline running through it. They've got that late-70s, do-whatcha-want punk sound, but it's really cornering itself into the sugary pop side of post punk. - Chaz Martenstein

Chapel Hill
FemmeFest
The Cave—Chapel Hill's long-cozy Cave is hardly a boys club. In fact, it's pretty much exclusive's polar opposite. Thus, FemmeFest doesn't represent a breakthrough, just the latest outbreak of FemmeFest fever sweeping North Carolina (Charlotte's springtime gathering was headlined by this area's heroines of dynamic-duo rock, the Moaners) and elsewhere. The Cave's version is billed as "a week of women in rock," though you'll find women in pop, punk, country and folk as well. With the Dork Flag-led Pink Flag and the Jill Homewrecker-led Homewreckers splitting Tuesday's late shift and sharing a fondness for punk at its DIYest and for Ramones-style band surnames, the fest comes in like a lion. Contradicting the old saying, however, Lam! Lam! plays Night Two, and without much calm. FemmeFest goes out Saturday, with Pawnshop Ruby vet Mary Johnson Rockers ("It's not a band, it's a last name.") providing top-shelf Americana and additional surname fun. Visit caverntavern.com/schedule.shtml for the complete schedule. Several acts will be doing double-time with performances at Mansion 462. —Rick Cornell - Independent Weekly

Betsy Shane of Durham’s Pink Flag admits that talking about female musicians has gotten her into trouble before. But her brazen attitude toward the subject suggests that she doesn’t really care about bruising anyone’s feelings.

“I think we’re kind of in this third wave for girl bands that are just these b----es that just say, ‘I’ve got a guitar, and I’m going to get up there and play.’”

And so it goes for Pink Flag, a trio determined to break down “girl-band” stereotypes by refusing to take a backseat to the boys.

“We just want to upstage everyone,” Shane says with the sort of sly smile that manifests itself musically each time Pink Flag plugs in its instruments and begins to create the spunky punk gems that have garnered the band plenty of attention since it formed in January when Shane answered a Craig’s List ad posted by the group’s bassist Princess Ojiaku.

Even Shane seems taken aback by the band’s quick rise within the Triangle music community.

“It’s just been a short, rocket-like like thing,” she said.

“We’ve just been slammed with good luck. We got to play Franklin on Halloween, a great house party the night after; we’re doing Troika and releasing our record pretty soon after that.”

And in advance of all of those shows, and in all of the reviews of the group’s upcoming record, the gender of the three members will undoubtedly be mentioned. That fact doesn’t bother Shane; she just wants the band’s music to be considered fairly.

“It bothers me when people are surprised when we can play our instruments because we are girls or when people blame the fact that we can’t play our instruments on the fact that we are girls.”

After a few songs at any of their shows though, the band quickly shifts from a “girl band” into, quite simply, a very good band providing three minutes of sonic jabs with each of its high-energy jams.

“It’s as weird as people let it be. If you don’t stick your vagina in everyone’s face, people will just let it go.”

And even with the insistence on not being pigeon-holed, Shane said she is still considering hanging a big “No Boys Allowed” sign on Pink Flag’s proverbial clubhouse.

“I sort of have this thing where I don’t think that I would want a boy in this band,” she said before bassist Ojiaku chimed in.

“I just think it’s easier this way,” Ojiaku said. “I’m more comfortable with this as someone who has never been a professional musician before this.”

That comfort is an important part of a band that Shane compared to some sort of “really obnoxious polygamous group.”

“With us, it’s never me going to a show; it’s all of us going to a show. If two of us go out to dinner, the other is always like, ‘Hey, why didn’t you guys invite me?’”

That type of bond is evident from the stage, as the girls play with the singular goal of ripping your preconceived notions to shreds.

- The Daily Tar Heel

The Triangle is host to plenty of female musicians, but Durham's Betsy Shane laments that most of them are bass players: "It's kind of like that indie rock cliché." Along with drummer Jessica Caesar (aka Sick Flag) and bassist Princess Ojiaku (aka Dork Flag), Shane (Lucky Flag) started jamming on some simple punk songs that weren't far removed from '90s Lookout! staples Bratmobile. As Pink Flag, they were out to change that four-string perception by starting a girl-band. Borrowing riot grrrl's jagged ethos and dropping in a shot of the same schoolyard pop that fueled the Ramones, Pink Flag's accomplished its mission. The trio plays Sunday night's Girls Rock & Girls Rule tour stop in Chapel Hill. Says Shane, "We don't need something celebrating Girls Rock & Girls Rule to get shows in this area, but it's nice to have something that's more female-centric." $6/ 7:30 p.m. —Bryan Reed - Independent Weekly

I thought about not going. I had just gotten done reading reviews and articles for Dive (for those of you who are not aware, the stories for the week’s section are read and edited by Sunday night). I was honestly pretty tired and had a fair amount of reading I was supposed to get through. But the allure always charming thrill of Pink Flag’s charming punk-rock spunk was just too strong to ignore. I was not disappointed. The band’s set as part of the Girls Rock & Girls Rule tour was well worth losing a few winks. Playing second to last the band delivered its raging anthems, mostly against the men its members have been done wrong by, with riveting, straightforward intensity and such sincere pathos that it made the audience at once identify with the situations and, for the male members of the crowd, make them guilty for the women they’d spurned and scared to ever do so again.

- Words and photos by Jordan Lawrence
- Daily Tar Heel

Duke Coffeehouse (Crowell Building, Duke University's East Campus)

Pink Flag (8 p.m.) Named for Wire's debut album and its own three-female cast, Durham's Pink Flag twists its spry jangle with three-part harmonies and strengthens it with thick bass and concise punk drum fills. —GC - Independent Weekly

The women of Durham-based band Pink Flag never received the memo that real ladies aren't supposed to like loud music. The trio likes rock tunes that are hard, full of attitude and played at full volume. The members of Pink Flag are making waves on the punk music scene in North Carolina with their energetic stage performances and the upcoming release of their first CD. The band joins host Frank Stasio to talk about their sound, thriving in a male-dominated genre of music, and to rock the studio live. - North Carolina Public Radio -WUNC

Pink Flag, an all girl trio from Durham, NC whipped up a tornado of bass, drums and raw guitar on a cool Friday night last October that bridged punk flavor with saccharine harmonies. At times brash and other times smooth, Pink Flag were sweet and sour that brought ferocity along for the ride. It was early in the night when they performed but the band played loud with a mission-like attitude emoting energy that goes into braving down finality, like it was the end of night and everyone's trying to keep the party going.

With a combination of catchy lyrics and emotionally charged alternative music Pink Flag played hearty and fast. The steady back beat from Jessica Caesar and vibrant bass playing by Princess Ojiaku kept things fun and, at times, funky. Both Ojiaku and guitarist Betsy Shane shared vocals. Perhaps it was the shared space on stage, and given the little there was, Shane had more room to move. She bounced back and forth and jumped about with a thrasher's angst between playing guitar and singing. Sharing vocal responsibilities gave the band, and the performance, a varied vocal palette. Ojiaku brought a soulful, fun vibe to the performance with her low and oft slurred words. Shane offered a youthful screech evoking the energy and frustration. Although these three women are members of separate bands respectively, they played together as if a unit for years.

The night was dedicated to Joe (guitarist for fellow Durham band Hammer No More the Fingers) several times as Pink Flag told the crowd it was his brithday. Fondly and appropriately, the band brought along pink cupcakes to celebrate. Most memorable of Pink Flag's performance, in addition to their energy, was the obvious fun they had performing. The crowd near the stage and those seated at the bar drinking were taken aback, especially since Pink Flag's sound was the polar opposite of the previous performer. People bobbed along to the music, yelled when they mentioned Joe's birthday and cheered the trio on as a song ended. Aside from a single slow song gone awry the performance went well, engaging the audience in the raw experience that was Pink Flag.

M.K. Barnes, November 2008 - Bootleg Magazine